Information about the size of the NSL cache file

Environment

Novell SecureLogin 6.0 Client

Situation

Questions have arisen when examining
the NSL local cache file.

Resolution

Q: Why does NSL double it's cache file size from initial creation on the harddrive?
A: The size increase occurs because the cache has a backup system in case data becomes corrupted
during a refresh. Both the users current data and the key data are backed up. The backup files are
created in eDirectory every load, so the first load has to create new ones, thus the size increase.
The second load writes over the top of the old backup files.

Q: Why does cache file size differ between the LDAP-eDir NSL client versus NWClient-eDir NSL client?
A: The difference in the size between ldap mode cache and edir mode cache can be explained by the
format of the names used to store the data. eDir uses the format CN=user.O=container.T=treename
where LDAP uses CN=user.O=container. Because the name is used as a key to the data held within the
file cache this slight difference in name adds up to the marginal file size difference we see.